EVA Air 747 without nosegear at LHR
 

Arrived at LHR this morning to see an EVA 747-400 parked on stand but with its tail about 30' higher than it should be. Closer inspection showed no nosegear and the nose buried in the concrete.

Anyone know what happened?

See the posts by LeezyJet

John :)

Apparently the BA guys were troubleshooting a hydraulic leak on one of the main gears. This required lifting the landing gear lever to the up position. This wouldn't normally be a problem if the nose gear downlock pin is correctly installed, but the pin rests on the nose gear doors and when the doors opened as the first part of the gear sequence, the pin fell out as it wasn't correctly latched into position, consequently the nose gear retracted.
The aircraft also suffered damage to an entry door which came down onto a set of steps, which also set off the escape slide.
Unfortunately, the aircraft also settled onto the fixed electrical ground power unit, which got buried into the fuselage.
So I think that this might be a tad expensive to repair!

Oops! :O

always wanted to raise the gear handle while parked & see if the weight on wheels/proximity/ overlock system worked - never had the guts...... now I know why!

Been done before.....no doubt that it will happen again :mad: :mad: :mad:


Northwest at LGW, Corseair at Cardiff and probably plenty of others......

You have got to feel sorry for all involved.... just imagine sitting on the flight deck, selecting "up" and then experiencing that sinking feeling. Ouch !:uhoh:

oooh, been on board with this sort maintenance procedure being carried out. Must admit I was a tad nervous with the gear lever up and the 'Gear not down' eicas.....

that looks like its going to cost a small fortune to fix ? .....

Did this procedure last month to determine the state of a hydraulic leak in the up line. It is a safe procedure IF the pins are installed correctly But as the picture shows make a mistake and it will bite you in the ar$e.

Will BA be footing the repair bill for this one and will EVA trust them to do the repair :O

Piton, according to rumour in the trade (systems testing) when they were testing the first airbus systems they did extensive tests on simulators and everything looked fine and they were due to start testing in a real aircraft.

Everything was installed, the chief tester came along, sat down in the pilots chair, raised the gear handle............... and got a nasty sinking feeling.:uhoh:

Does show you can't test everything in simulators.

At risk of unleashing the usual Pprune ire on a simple question,

Does the aircraft slip down gracefully or fall like a brick?

And if its the latter then its a good job the maintenance guys were not underneath.......

pprecious,

You're not alone -- I was wondering the same thing.

Also, aside from the nose section, obviously, how much structure needs to be checked from something like this. Looks like the nacelles on engines #2 and #3 are resting on the ground, do you then have to check the pylons for stress, does possible damage then extend into the wing?

Just curious as to how much potential damage can be expected from an event like this?

Thanks!

Well if it is anything like the 727 I saw sit on its butt it starts slowly and picks up speed fast. Probably more with how the airplane is loaded at the time. :ok:

Spanners,

Two different bits of the beeb been in touch with us at the Towers regarding using the photo. PM me if interested.

If not please ignore everything after, 'Good morning.'

Regards
rob

An engineer was killed not so long ago on a 737 when something was connected the wrong way round during maint and when the pumps where selected the nose gear retracted. At the end of the day aircraft can be replaced/repaired people cant.

BA Engineering (if BA Eng did handle the EVA air incident) and 747 Nosewheels (up on ground) are regrettably becoming a theme:

AAIB Report G-AWNE

Note it quotes: (I cannot find URLs for these 2...)

NoD

Does anyone have further info/pics on the incident at cardiff in '96?

Please excuse non-tech dumbo question , but...

If this happened on the parking stand, why are the flaps extended?

moo

There are plenty of pictures/info about cwl putting one on its arse if you ask the right people in the hangar

Virgin slit - any number of reasons the flaps could be extended. Wheels up landing inspection ..............:= defect rectification or inducement ( similar to pilot induced turbulence ) :O
Suspected birdstrike, lubrication of a drive system, rigging checks..........literally 100's of reasons, all non sinister with the exception of the first 2 tongue in cheek examples. :E

No it was on final approach can see that by the attitude of the aircraft in the first photo. I tell you those hangar pilots get away with every thing. :D